Prismatic Shadows
by Keitorin.Phoenix
Summary: When Konoha suddenly gets a message from a group of unknown people and certain other people also get the same message, they can't help but think that there's a greater threat than Akatsuki & Orochimaru...HIATUS
1. Chapter 1 Winds of Change

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the anime/manga of Naruto. Just like every other person that has written a disclaimer for their story. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. :P**

**Author's Note: Eventually this will become sort of a Battle Royale-type...thing. o.O I'm still deciding on if I should let you guys, the reviewers, choose who will die...But I'm not too sure yet. Enjoy my first attempt at writting. I realize that the characters will probably be a bit OOC at the begginning. And BTW I'm changing the story drastically very soon. **

**Added Prologue and Chapter 1 together!**

**Prismatic Shadows**

Chapter 1: Winds of Change

The warm breeze was very much out of place in the forest situated town. The surrounding forest was ideal for hiding from enemy shinobi. A young kunoichi gazed across her village with a small smile carefully placed on her face. She knew the wind was changing and that Konoha wouldn't be this peaceful for a while. Turmoil would begin quite soon. The usual piles of mission statements recently had become smaller and smaller. Therefore the Hokage, Tsunade became drunk more often. The wind of change was dancing around and toying with her again. It just wouldn't quit would it? The young kunoichi continued think about these thoughts. These were the only type of thoughts she had been thinking of recently. Well since Uchiha Sasuke had left anyways.

She tried training to keep her mind off the loss of her dear friend and the first guy she ever liked, however his face was just imprinted into her mind and just wouldn't fade away. It was always there. With his smirk. With those confident, brooding, broken eyes, that became even more so after he activated that damn sharingan. Sakura Haruno shook her head to rid her mind of the face. She'd see it again soon enough, no mistaking it. Then just as quickly as the last one left, another came. This face was more round, had blond, spikey hair and energetic eyes. Eyes that seemed like he had placed lights in them and they would never go out. Even that perverted sannin, Jiraiya, was helping Naruto. She couldn't help but feel appriciative to him as well. Hopefully all would go well. It had to. 

She leaped and landed completly silent on the ground just beside the entrance to the villiage. She couldn't stop herself from taking a quick glance to what layed beyond the gate. Still no one. A disapointed face graced her features, but just as quickly as it had appeared it had disapeared. She ran head held all the way home. It was getting late. She didn't rush getting home, in fact, she took the long route home. It was still mid-day. She had time just to walk around, or so she thought...

"Sakura-san! Tsunade-sama is looking for you!" Imediately she turned around to see Inuzuka Kiba rushing towards her with that feral grin placed on his face. When he was in front of her he took a deep breath and continued. "It's about time you got out of this place and tasted the air beyond the village. It'll do you good!" He smiled more broadly. Sharp teeth pertruding from his mouth and all. Akamaru popped out from inside Kiba's coat and gave a supporting woof.

_Hah...it looks like Akamaru is smiling too...How could I resist them? _She quickly nodded and gave a quick smile. They raced back to the Hokage's office at full speed.

"Argh! You always beat me!" Sakura panted as they arrived in front of the head office. "Ah! Neji-kun! Were you called to Tsunade-sensei's office for a mission too? Didn't you just get back from one? And Tenten-chan and Lee-san!" Sakura quickly placed one of her happy masks on. She knew that they knew she was still depressed about them leaving. 

"Shhh." whispered Neji. "They're in a deep discusion in there, we may be able to get some additional information." 

"Just come in. I'm in no mood to repeat myself. The news is not the type of news that I would like to repeat." came the calm response.

Neji was the first to recover from the sudden shock. He could have sworn he camouflaged thier position. He opened the door confidently and without hesitation. Sakura was right behind him. She had to wave her hands in front of the other's faces in order for them to to snap back to reality. She rolled her eyes and followed Neji through the door. When she finally took notice of her surroundings, her eyes instantly got larger. She couldn't believe it. There in front of her were the people who she thought she would never see again.

It was him. Holy crap, it was him. Uchiha Sasuke. He stood in the corner, eyes blank and glassy, staring out the window. He seemed to not have noticed the new presance in the room. He just stood there. Blank. He shirt was ripped on the sleeves. He had a couple of scratches on his cheek. They changed his demeanor. They would scar.

"S-Sasuke-kun!? My goodness, you're alright! Sasuke-kun..." Sakura stammered as she ran up beside him and kissed the cheek without the scratches and hugged him tightly. "Sasuke you came back."

Sasuke withdrew from his memories and looked at her. She hadn't changed one bit. Her hair was still short. Her eyes were a bit too watery for him but at that moment, it didn't matter. He missed her.As soon as she let go. He hugged her back. That one didn't last quite as long, but maybe it allow her to take a look around the room and show her that he wasn't the only one in the room that had just returned. Sakura got the message and with another look she turned around and was quite surprised at what she saw.

Naruto was injured, and he looked hilarious! His left arm, from the shoulder down to the tips of his fingers, was completly covered in bandages. He saw her looking at him and smiled. He still had that sparkle in his eyes. His face lit up and he was, once again, the Naruto Sakura remembered. She walked over to him and gave him a hug too.

Next was that irresponsible sannin Jiraiya. He was standing there, hands behind his back, smiling. Sakura guessed what he was expecting, a hug, and smiled. She stood in front of him and bowed, much to Jiraiya's dismay. However, he quickly got over it and patted her on the head. Of course, he was pretty much unharmed beyond what normal missions would do. For heavens sake, he had a bottle of sake in his hand!

Tsunade stood up abruptly "May I please tell the news?" Everyone knew _that _politeness wouldn't last long. "This is serious. We have recieved a letter." The whole room plastered a look of mock surprise on thier faces, well, not Sasuke or Neji (because they're to cool for that).

The Hokage regarded everyone with a look of extreme annoyance and spoke up once again. "The letter is from a group that is only comparible to the myths that you would hear about in legends. These people have been presumed dead for countless years, and with this letter, they have said that they are still living among us." She took a breath and once agin looked around the room. The faces that were there before now held expressions of shock and disbelief. Of course at this time, Kakashi took the liberty of walking in. Everyone stared at him with incredulous looks. He seemed rather unpeturbed and took his place between Sasuke and Tsunade. 

"Continue on with your talk, Tsunade-dono."He smiled his upside-down-eyes smile.

"Of course, Kakashi-san. Now! Back to what I was saying _before _we were interupted." She shot a look of daggers at Kakashi, who didn't seem to notice."There was a letter and now we are being beckoned to attend a...competition of the sorts." Sasuke looked at the back of Tsunade's head. He knew there was something she was leaving out from the hesitation in her sentance. He was immediatly suspicious. He went back to looking out the window. 

Sasuke wasn't the only one who heard the hesitation. Jiraiya squinted his eyes. It wasn't like her to hesitate during the middle of a sentance.

Tenten also saw through it and nudged Neji in the elbow. Neji responded with a slight nod and returned his attention to Tsunade.

Akamaru was still in Kiba's coat. They looked at each other, and thier gazes turned back to the Hokage.

Sakura still being to shocked to see Sasuke, didn't notice. Neither did Naruto. He nodded his head, not grabbing a clue at all.

"It will be an elimination challenge. I am supposed to go with 5 to 10 leading ninja's of the villiage. They wrote that they'd give us more information when we arrive. That has to be the part that I worry about the most. They wrote the directions and they say that the coliseum will be placed where the most borders intersect. That means it will be probably be placed along The Country of Grass's borders.They seem to touch most countries in that area." Tsunade studied the paper a bit more. Kakashi popped up behind her.

"Aren't you forgetting to tell us about that sentance? I think that would an important piece of information for us." Kakashi was no longer beside the desk, but behind it.

Tsunade was shocked. She quickly regained her composure and shoved Kakashi from behind her desk into a potted plant in the corner opposite of Sasuke. He tried to get up, but gave up quite soon after.

"Just tell them about that one piece of info, Tsunade-dono. Or I'll say it." Kakashi promtly took out his book, Icha Icha Mercy (1). Jiraiya couldn't help but smirk at his book.

_Oh I'm just too cool_ Jiraiya thought

"I'll choose to disclose this information, Kakashi-san"

Kakashi sighed.

"I can't believe I'm letting this guy guilt trip me..." Tsunade hung her head, as everyone looked quite interested in what was about to be said.

The Hokage stood up, took a deep breath and picked up her chair. She looked around the room. She threw her chair out of the window. If there was someone in the room who wasn't interested before, they certainly were now.

"It's a death match. Till the end. Someone, no matter what, will die at the end of each match." She broke down, but since she threw her chair out the window, she just sat on the floor. Eyes completly emotionless, and broken. However there were another set of eyes in the room that glowed with blood lust.

At that exact moment the Hidden Villiage of Sand's wind blew. Gaara was sitting on a rooftop that belonged to a long since abandoned house. He saw a a kunai speeding towards him. He sat there. It would have hit him, but his sand had protected him. He picked up the kunai that was stuck in the sand and read it showing no emotion until the last two words, where he betrayed an expresion of shock.

Death Match.

**AN: Awww! A lil SasuSaku moment:3 Don't worry, If I decide to add some romance, they probably won't be more of a pairing then, let's say...a kunai and a tree? They will just be friends who have each other's backs. I have a better Idea. I have a few favorite pairings.Smile But of course, that's only If I _can fit _some romance in.**

**Blood and Sweat, if you know what I mean... O**

**The next chapter will continue from Sand, then move to the next group to be introduced. coughAkatsukicough coughItachicough **

**I know! Still too short! Sorry guys! Later I might add the prologue to this chapter...not sure yet. (I did) **

**I added seven words for it to be two-thousand words.**


	2. Chapter 2 Shifting Sands

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the anime/manga of Naruto. Just like every other person that has written a disclaimer for their story. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. **

**I'm so sorry this took so long. As soon as I got near the end of this chapter, I couldn't think of anything. But It's here now! **

Prismatic Shadows

Chapter 2: Shifting Sands

Gaara couldn't suppress it. He was surprised. He thought that nothing could ever surprise him, and yet, here was this letter claiming that they were the eternal mystery. They wrote that they were the epitome of hell.

Clearly they're exaggerating.

"What a load of bull." Gaara muttered. After taking a small glance at the moon above him, he got up and left.

Gaara returned to his village where he quickly spotted his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari.

Temari and Kankuro were having a drink. They were drinking in silence, which made the situation very different. Usually when Temari drinks, table dancing was very common. And Kankuro? He wasn't much of a drinker, so that would mean that Temari had persuaded him to come with her. They already had something serious to talk about. Gaara walked over to them to tell them about the message.

"Nani?!" Both Temari and Kankuro shouted at once.

Temari stood up. "This is fucking mass murder! We cannot allow our shinobi to go. We can't Gaara." She was angry. And she had a reason, her feelings weren't feelings of Every time she returned to the village she would take the time to visit some families in Sand. She had grown so close to Sand's population, she couldn't possibly send the people to be massacred.

Kankuro was surprised but unlike Temari, he never made time for his village. He took care of his genins and that's all.

But Gaara had already made the decision. The only reason why he hadn't made an announcement yet was because he would have to go through with the formality of disclosing it to Sand's council.

After an uncomfortable silence, they all left for home. The council would hear about it then they would prepare.

Sand isn't weak. We have to prove that. Temari must have more faith. We won't lose anyone, because we won't lose a match. With that final thought he turned himself to his paperwork as every Kazekage should do.

Temari continued on her way home. She began to drag her feet on the ground. Tired and in shock. Not a good combination. She already knew Gaara had made up his mind. Not the answer that she would have liked though. she knew her brother wouldn't back down from a challenge of that scale. What could she say? He was Gaara.

Kankuro stayed in the bar. He knew it was weird for him to stay there, but he just kept on drinking. If he was more like himself maybe he would have noticed the shadows darting between the houses and shops of downtown Sand.

Gaara woke up the next day. He didn't waste anytime getting ready since he fell asleep at his desk. The moon was still outside evem though it was close to noon. The sands wern't really blowing either. Strange. He head towards the counsil building and stopped to look behind him. He was sure of a presence, but all traces of the chakra had subsided.

He walked into the building, took his spot behind his desk and waited for his siblings to arrive and for the counsil meeting to begin.

The coucil was made of seven people. Each person the head of a district in Sand. Only one was a bit strange, but none the less she had risen through the ranks quickly. Risa

Slowly but surely the coucil members took thier place in the coucil area. The seats started to fill in and Gaara was going over what he wanted to say in his head. He knew he would be challenged, hopefully Kankuro and Temari, especially Temari, had seen his side and would express their oppinion the same as his.

"We shouldn't obey these commands."Temari started "We clearly do not have any information about the organizarion to make this a valid invitation to a damn bloodbath!"

Gaara was shocked. Temari always kept calm.

"Temari-san, sit down." Temari glanced at her younger brother and sat down. To regain her composure, she sat down, closed her eyes and interlaced her fingers.

"What if this is Orochimaru's doing?" a voice spoke up.

"What if it's a prank?" Another one chimed.

"What if..." the questions were abundant.

"What if,"Spoke a calm voice"...we ask the other villages to see if they received a letter without disclosing the information that we have one?" The clear and calm voice came from the middle of the table.

A girl about 19 with medium length light green hair was the owner of the voice. She had orange pupil-less eyes. There were no joy in those eyes. She was dressed in a rough red material, it wrapped around her small curves tightly. It continued down to about her knee where it stopped with a knot at the end.

The room went silent. The council members were thinking it over.

"But Risa-san, If the other villages get involved and it's a prank, we will look like imbeciles. Can we risk our reputation?" A coucilman said.

"Of course we can. Our reputation won't mean anything to us if we're dead." stated Gaara."What kind of reputation do we have right now? It's not something to be bragging about."

With that last sentance, the council decided to vote. After, the votes were looked at by a neutral party and the results were announced.

A lone blond was sitting in a garden. It was beautiful. Something that looked like it would last forever, but then when winter came around, it would disapear.

"Nothing lasts forever, yeah." Deidara took a seat under a leafy green tree and wrapped his black and red Akatsuki cloak around him. He sat there for a hours, staring at the plants and wildlife. Suddenly, for a brief moment, he felt someone else's strong chakra. He recognized the chakra imediatly. He stood up completly aware of who was going appear.

"Deidara-san, you should...move." came a calm and controlled voice.

"Why? I'm supposed to be here, yeah!"

"Hn." Was Itachi's only response. Itachi sat down a fair bit away from Deidara. "This was found on the Akatsuki'd door. Our main entrance." Itachi paused. He betrayed a small moment of irritation. _How did someone get so close, right on our doorstep, lettiraly_. Itachi closed his eyes_. Did...he just, make a pun...? _He didn't want to think about that. Just, no.

"I found this." Itachi took out a piece of paper, like a letter, from the inside of his cloak. All traces of irritation gone. "This was also sticking into the door."A kunai appeared in his left palm.

Kisame came out of from behind a tree to the rear of Deidara.

"Hey kids. What'cha doing?" He swung Samehada onto his shoulder and took a small pose.

"Oh, fuck off!" Deidara rolled his eyes. Itachi kept looking down at the letter in his hand.

"What's that?"asked Kisame

"A letter, yeah."

"What type of letter?"

"A challenge." calmly replied Itachi. He was impressed. Of course he would never let it show, but he was none the less.

"We'll have to take it to fearless Leader" laughed Kisame.

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**Sand is a little more productive than Konoha. **

**I need recomendations for the first few matches!! I have more OCs then characters actually from Naruto, so take some wild guesses who they are. Most OCs will be introduced dead. dead anyways...**

**Also a couple pairing recomendations! (They might not happen, but I need some anyways.) You know, Filler chapters? Doubt I'll need fillers though.**

**Thank You Reviewers!:**

**darkewaken: I'm being descriptive enough? Thank you! And about Sasuke, that will be disclosed through flashbacks, and when team 7 reunites. Sasuke is back, but why? (ooohh...)**

**Isis101****: Hey! And you can correct it only if I have the story at school. :P (Like you did!) **

**Yui Kunoichi no kage: Here's your update! **

**Guys, this is gonna be a long story, know what will make me feel better? REVIEWS!**


	3. Chapter 3 Summon Red

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the anime/manga of Naruto. Just like every other person that has written a disclaimer for their story. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.**

**Finnaly, Chapter 3 is up. Longest original chapter yet. Akatsuki is just interesting, ok? O I Just wanted to get this up before March Break.**

**R&R!!

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Prismatic Shadows

Chapter 3: Summon Red

They weather had changed; it was now cloudy. The three Akatsuki members were about to establish a connection to 'Fearless Leader'. After the members were finished molding the chakra ever so precisely, someone was noticed watching from behind a pinetree. The man jumped in to the pinetree when he saw that his hiding location was found out. The movement struck Itachi as horribly calculated. He wondered how someone of the Akatsuki caliber couldn't perform a sudden jump quietly. This alone put Taiyou under Itachi's supicion.

"Taiyou, just come out, yeah. We were just about to talk to Leader. Just come out-"

"Go away. You don't know your place yet."

Taiyou jumped out of the pinetree.

Taiyou had light blue hair in a low side pony tail with left-swept bangs, and an uncaring sneer. His eyes pupiless neon green eyes betrayed his current emotion all the time. If he was amused little stars would dance in his eyes. If he was mad you could almost see the fiery blazes of hell within them. He was tall and was loosly drapped in his Akatsuki robe. He appeared to be around 19. His forehead protector depicted that he was a Cloud missing-nin, and the katana attached to his robe declared him an ex-Cloud ANBU.

Taiyou sighed and smiled. He walked towards the group and lunar glow surrounded him and then consumed him.

"Only for now, only for now." Taiyou's final words echoed.

"Hn. He talks assumingly." _Bastard._

Taiyou was the only one Itachi considered a threat. Taiyou might not be ANBU anymore, but Itachi felt like he still wore that mask. He could control the rays of the sun if he wanted too. That included concentrating the rays onto on particular spot, and they didn't have a medic-nin. He could stop the rays from reaching the ground. He could be a formidable ally of Konoha's Nara family. The shadow benders. He could increase thier shadow range and kill many people at once.

Itachi returned his attention to where the three s-class criminals previously were. The other two instantly got the message and went back to thier previous positions in the triangle. They united their chakra and called the Leader of Akatsuki Organization.

"Ano...? What a surprise. We are not to talk for a copuple more weeks. This had better be important." There were mixed emotions in the sudden encounter with the S-Class criminals. Leader coughed and there was a uncomfortable silence.

"So..." _Yeah..._Deidara tried to lighten up the mood.

"Ah, yes." Itachi snapped out of the silence. "We received word of a challenge. Directed to us. By some people who claim to be a threat to us. Is there something we should know..." A brief pause. "_Leader_." Itachi's last word clearly hit a nerve on their Leader.

"Have you lost your faith in me? In your mission? This is very... disconcerning for the organization, Uchiha-san."

"My mission? It has nothing to do with the mission. I want to know why the knowledge of this greater power, was not brought to my attention."

"Heh. They've always been there, Itachi-san. Always."

The rest of the Akatsuki members appeared along side a sneer given by Taiyou. He was in the front of the pack. The other members were confused at why they were there, although thier faces would never betray such a thought. They all pretended that they knew exactly why they were there.

Leader immediatly solidified at the place where he was moments ago talking to Deidara, Kisame and Itachi.

Everyone turned to look at Taiyou.

The last thing the Akatsuki members saw was a large sneer.

The forest went dark and it was silent.

Deidara was the first to wake. His eyes were open, yet he couldn't even see his hand right in front of his face. The room he was in was cold. It's floors were also cold. However they were smooth with grids running through the floor. He deduced that the floor was a ceramic tile.

He tried to draw chakra to his hands to create some explosive clay, but it just wouldn't work. He couldn't draw the chakra. He closed his eyes. Now that the initial shock of adrenaline was over, it dawned upon him that his butt seriously hurt. Damn that floor was hard.

Deidara asked the darkness "Is anyone awake, yeah?"

No response. He tried to stand up, but was unsuccessful. He grabbed his ankles and felt for either chains or shackles. He felt none. He closed his eyes (even though he couldn't really tell) and came to a realization that he was bound with chakra string. The mouths on his hands were trying to break the string, without sucess.

There were other people in the room, he could sense thier chakra quietly buzzing in his mind. From what he could tell, there were about 9 people in the room, although he couldn't pinpoint exactly where everyone was. Maybe Taiyou was generous enough to put all of his comrades, or maybe just people with the same main interest, in the same room.

One chakra field suddenly jumped. He asked the silent darkness once again:

"Is anyone awake, yeah?" This time however a voice answered.

"I guess I am now." came a quiet female voice. "though I really wish I could sleep, or better yet, drink this darkness away. Who are you?"

Deidara didn't respond. Who was this woman? He remembered Tobi sais something about the newest member of thier organization was a woman. Maybe it was her. Probably was.

The restraints on his feet and legs were getting weaker and a span of 4 and a half minutes, the string had completly dissolved.

Deidara gathered chakra into his hands and created a small mound of clay. Roughly about the size of a tennis ball. He started to roll it across the room. Hopefully, it wouldn't hit someone he knew. The ball kept rolling. He snapped his fingers and the clay exploded. Just as he hoped, The explosion caught on something burnable. He grinned in triumph.

_I'm just simply a plain genius! YEAH! _

"So I guess that explaines who you are, Deidara-san." whispered the voice.

"So you are Akatsuki, yeah!" He got up and walked towards the burning object.

"So am I." came a dark brooding voice "Although you won't be able to tell after you burnt my robe, you idiot."

Deidara jumped back from the voice that was coming from the burning cloak imediatly replacing that look of triumph with one of shock.

Deidara grimaced. _Oh shit, I hit Itachi. Of _course_ I had to hit him, yeah! _

Itachi had a stick by him and he used the flames on his robe to light the branch. After the branch was lit, Itachi put the small fire out, stood up and looked to the right of where he was standing. He kicked someone beside him. A grunt quickly ensued. Kisame tried to get up but gave up after he realized his chakra bonds were still working. He slumped back onto the wall behind him.

Itachi ignored him and walked towards Deidara and the female voice.

"Care to tell us your name now?" asked Itachi. He shined the branch light on her and saw that she was indeed Akatsuki.

She was wearing a tight fitted Akatsuki robe and wore a small green gem on her forehead between her blank crystalline eyes. The signature Akatsuki ring was on her left middle finger. Her nails were painted the dark purple colour too. Her short spikey black hair stook up at all angles. She glaced at both Deidara and Itachi with minimal interest. She smiled a one sided smile.

"Heh. I guess I will. It's not fair for me to know your names and strengths and you not know mine. I'll at least tell you my name anyway. My name is Akiri Sakurairo. Do what you will with it."

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**NEXT TIME: It's Sound's turn to be invited!! **

**Long Intro, eh, guys? -- SORRY!!**

**Even a simple review that says 'please update' will make my day! w**

**-Keitorin**


	4. Chapter 4 Sudden Sound

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the anime/manga of Naruto. Just like every other person that has written a disclaimer for their story. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.**

**Ha! Over a month without Updating. Ooooh! I'm cool! XD **

**... **

I'M SO SORRY!!!!! READ PLEASE!! (It's so short too...sorry.) -- R&R! Please! I know I don't deserve it.

**Notice Chapter 4.5 !**

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Prismatic Shadows

Chapter 4  
Sudden Sound

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A puple haired, spectacles wearing nin was busy in his medical lab concocting a cure for his present master. Kabuto hated to think like that. That Orochimaru was his master ans all that. But if he was to get what he wanted, Kabuto would have to stick around and try to actually heal the dead arms of his master's that hung limp by his sides. Kabuto prided himself in medical jutsu. After all, he had been taught by best, long thought to have been lost for decades. 

_Konoha thinks they're so powerful. They're only powerful to the known world, not the world hidden in the ruins of the past._

Kabuto wavered when he hearn a sudden noise that came from the door of the medical room. The strange concoctions bubbled at the slight tremor. Kabuto grimaced. If another tremor like that was to happen with the next month or so, about half of them would have to be discarded.

Orochimaru's thought patterns were quite, _different_, then any S-Class criminal to date. Sure the Uchiha murderer had a blindness problem at the age of 20, but his masters arms were actually stretching from the gravity pulling the skin cells apart. His arms were abnormaly long now. Like an ape.

Kabuto snickered at the thought of his master spontaneously growing hair in all the wrong places and walked towards the door. He opened the door and looked eye level at the door. A small envelope was sticking there by a sharpened kunai. Kabuto imediately thought of young sound shinobi (there weren't many, but there were some) trying to scare him. The blood was probably that of a cat or dog. He returned inside the room with the envelope in hand, heading towards the fancy chair in the corner beside the table that concoctions were mixed.

Kabuto was a patient man, unlike his master. Nor was he a procrastinator. He did what had to be done and waited as long as he could with out feeling that he himself was lazy.

However, this was a diffrent matter. A letter was found on his medical door. He should have sensed it if it was young shinobi, or even if it was a daring older shinobi. The only skill that was on par with his medical jutsus were those jutsus of discovering chakra patterns.

_There was only one group..._

With the bloodied kunai in hand and an deducted answer formed in his head, Kubuto sliced the top of the envelope, careful not to bloody the contents.

He removed the contents (he had managed not to bloody them). It was a letter. About half a page in length with small barely legible hand writing. He recognized it imediately. His small snicker grew into a maniacal grin. It was finnaly time.

Kabuto calmed himself down and went in search of Orochimaru. He stopped in the second infermary, the 'throne room' (Kabuto held such disdain for that room), he stopped at his chambers and even checkked the showers. The only place left would be the war room. Kabuto headed towards the room and very proud that he had been able to stay with the plan for as long as he did.

He knocked on the door with that catching rhythm and he walked in. Orochimaru was sitting in a wooden throne and was listening to the most accomplished Sound shinobi to ever raise into the most trusted general/tactitian.

She wore a tight light purple yukata. It was nothing special. She was of average height with shoulder length straight red hair. The cuts were purposely choppy. the sharp angle of her hair brought out her sharp, hating opal eyes. Much like the Byakugan, she could see long distances. No chakra circletory systems, however. But used in conjuction with another jutsu she developed she could send her mindwaves through sound waves. It made her a grand tactition. She could make sudden changes to a strategy and send them through sound waves. The tunnels were basicly made for this jutsu. Emotionless and devout, Kei Miko was a sound prodigy.

Kei regarded Kabuto with an unyielding eye. She turned her back away from him and shifted towards the world wap. Orochimaru looked at kabuto for a fraction of a second. When he had looked away, Kabuto caught his attention again by clearing his throat and putting the letter in front of his face. He walked to towards wooden throne and handed the letter, or rather just a short note. The exhange was noiseless.

Orochimaru read the note a few times and each tie gazing at the last two words, Death Match.

Orochimaru liked those words. So far, those two words to Orochimaru ment that he would win. And kill them all!!

"Yes." was the only thing thing that came from his mouth.

Kei was busy pushing pins into the border of Fire Country.

"Kei, start the strategy," Orochimary stated. Kei turned around to face him. "Konoha will be in danger at all times. You will gather the ideal combatents for this...proposition, at the same time make sure that we have even more skilled ninjas waiting around Fire Country's border."

With a quick nod, Kei returned to her board, grabbed a new colour of pushpins, and applied more to the map.

Orochimaru stood up suddenly. Kabuto heard a bit more flesh rip. From Orochimaru's shoulder came a quick dark, ruby, red line of blood. As it traveled down his arm, the fabric absorbed it. He walked towards the corridor and stopped under the door frame.

"Come Kabuto. You aren't as blind as the Uchiha, get my medicine."

Kabuto smirked and wondered when those damned arms were just going to fall off. He could save the weird concoctions for something else.

* * *

Team 7 caught up with everything that could have happened. The procedure was the same for every question. 

Sakura would ask a question.

She would hope that Sasuke who would answer.

She would be dissapointed everytime Naruto decided to answer.

Kakashi would blush while reading Icha Icha Mercy.

And then, like a deja vu, it would happen all over again. Ask. Hope. Dissapointment. Blush. They say that psychotics do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome.

_Then I must be psycotic._ Sakura thought sadly.

By the end of the 2 hour lunch break, she felt like she was going to breakdown. And just to prove herself wrong about the psychotic idea, she kept her composure.

Sasuke remained quiet. He did not look as intense as when he left, but he looked like he knew he made a mistake.

Team 7 continued to talk and one by one they left. First was Kakashi (saying he had to wax his legs, to which he received wierd glances from everyone. All three of the students knew exactly what he was thinking about, he was just too absorbed in a kinky scene),

Sasuke left next mumbling something and then looked directly at Sakura gave her his thanks. He even gave her a small smile. It lasted a fraction of a second, but she knew it had been there. It warmed her heart.

Just as sudden as her heart had warmed up, it turned cold.

"Sakura-_chaaaan_! Wanna pay for the bill?" The Kyuubi container smiled.

"No. Pay for it yourself." She walked away and looked back and saw Naruto being hastled by the chef. She laughed.

"Karma..." She sing songed. With a grin plastered on her face she turned around and walked to her apartment. She stuck the keys in and opened the door. She couldn't help but stand at the door in shock.

_How'd he get in here?_

"Sakura, I that you have some questions. I just didn't want to say anything with Kakashi-sensei there. He would analize it and think I was psycotic."

"You _aren't_ psycotic, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and scanned the room and looked out the window uncertainly, then looked back to Sakura.

"Ask away."

* * *

Prismatic Shadows 

Chapter 4.5 - Akatsuki Plays a Game

"Pass the sake, you son of a bitch!" growled a tall shark-like man. " You're hogging it, Zetsu!"

Kisame couldn't stand the sight of it! The plant man was spilling it all over his Akatsuki cloak. Kisame was beginning to think if he could actually drink and h ewas just pretending or whether he just stuck his feet in the ground and nourished himself like the overgrown carnivourous plant he was. _Well sake isn't really nourishment_. _But that's not the point!_ argued Kisame to himself.

The Akatsuki crew had been down in that dreary, dark and damp dungeon for, according to Deidara, for 5 dreary freakin days. That one comment had pitted all of Akatsuki against him and now Deidara was lying on the in the farthest corner on the floor.

There was nourishment coming down into the dungeon everyday. The large cell was filled with sake, rice, fruit, and to Zetsu's dismay and utter shock, miracle grow. Very thoughtful captor they had didn't they? They were well fed, well taken care of, (in Zetsu's case well grown) and also they were completely drained of chakra.

Almost imediatly after they had awoken, Itachi had realized that the room could drain chakra. The walls and floor were continuosly draining their chakra. Inabling them to restore chakra.

"Zetsu-san, Tobi wants some some sake too." Zetsu looked at Tobi from the corner of his eye and cautiousley handed Tobi a small bottle of sake. Tobi took the bottle and raised it towards the small hole in the right side of his mask.

_Great. Now this dimwit is gonna wash his face in it._

"Stop this madness and put the sake down!" yelled Kisame. "You're wasting it, you morons." Kisame stood up and grabbed the bottle out of Tobi's hands. Kisame took a swig of sake, and sighed. "See guys? It actually went in my mouth." Kisame opened his mouth in fake shock.

"This is dreary Zetsu-san." spoke up Tobi ten minutes later. "Let's try to bend the bars, or punch a whole into the wall or something like that. Something exiting!"

Tobi looked to his left to find a pair of sharingan eyes scanning the scene that had just happened involving the sake. Tobi turned his head in front again and he had an idea.

"Guys, I have an idea."

_Oh Shit._ The whole room thought at the same time.

"It's a game!"

"..." Akatsuki doesn't play gamees. Unless they're drinking ones.

"It's called, In Your Pants!" Tobi raised his arms above his head and looked around the torch lit room for the reactions of the S-Class criminals.

"I will start off, in your pants!" Tobi gave a cute chuckle.

Deidara stood up from his corner and took a seat _far_ away from Kisame, who had delivered the massive Samehada to the back of his head. It might not have drained any chakra, for there was none, but it was also a very effective club. With sharp, pointy ends. Deidara cleared his throat.

"You were using your noggin, Tobi, in your pants, yeah." Deidara looked around the room still feeling remotely threatened.

Itachi squinted his eyes in disdain while Kisame grabbed for Samehada, but it wasn't there.

'Nuh uh uh, un!" Deidara waved Samehada.

When were the other invited competitors going to arrive? Until then, about half of Akatsuki will face something worse then death itself.

Tobi.

**Any questions for Sasuke? He won't answer anything to advance the plot fast though. Anything unclear? Ask Away!**

**I think Kabuto is cool. he'll be the main Sound dude. :P**

**Kakashi is my pancake, Itachi is my waffle. Just to let everyine know.**

**R&R Please! Nothing brightens up my day like a review. Do I need more description? ****Just don't say longer, I know they're very short!! **


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